The Internet comprises a vast number of computers and computer networks that are interconnected through communication links. The interconnected computers exchange information using various services, such as electronic mail, Gopher, and the World Wide Web (“WWW” or “the Web”). The WWW service allows a server computer system (i.e., Web server or Web site) to send graphical Web pages of information to a remote client computer system. The remote client computer system can then display the Web pages. Each resource (e.g., computer or Web page) of the WWW is uniquely identifiable by a Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”). To view a specific Web page, a client computer system specifies the URL for that Web page in a request (e.g., a HyperText Transfer Protocol (“HTTP”) request). The request is forwarded to the Web server that supports that Web page. When the Web server receives the request, it sends that Web page to the client computer system. When the client computer system receives that Web page, it typically displays the web page using a Web browser. A Web browser is a special-purpose application program that effects the requesting of Web pages and the displaying of Web pages. Examples of commercially available Web browsers are Microsoft® Internet Explorer and Netscape® Navigator®.
Web pages are typically defined using the HyperText Markup Language (“HTML”). HTML provides a standard set to tags that define how a Web page is to be displayed. When a user indicates to a Web browser to display a Web page, the Web browser sends a request to the server computer system to transfer to the client computer system an HTML document that defines the Web page. When the requested HTML document is received by the client computer system, the Web browser displays the Web page as defined by the HTML document. A Web page (i.e., HTML document) typically contains a variety of Web page elements, such as tags that control the displaying of text, graphics, controls, and other features. A Web page may also contain hyperlinks to other Web pages available on that server computer system or other server computer systems on the Web. A user can “follow” a hyperlink to another Web page by moving a mouse cursor over the link and depressing the mouse button. A Web page can also include other Web page elements, such as animations, videos, Java Applets, Active X controls, and the like.
One increasingly popular form of Web site is referred to as a Web portal. A Web portal is a Web site that offers a centralized point of access to other resources and services on the Web, including other Web sites and Web pages. A Web portal site typically consists of one or more Web pages that provide various menus of hyperlinks, usually grouped by subject. For example, a Web portal site might provide a menu of hyperlinks to various news sources on the WWW, and another menu of hyperlinks may point to various on-line shopping Web sites. Another menu of hyperlinks may point to selected Web sites specializing in travel services. Some Web portal sites may specialize in only one type of information, for example, computer helpdesk services, travel services, on-line shopping services, etc. Examples of Web portal sites that offer hyperlinks to a variety of different services on the Web are www.yahoo.com and www.lycos.com.
Some Web portal sites, including, for example, both www.yahoo.com and www.lycos.com, allow users to create personalized versions of these Web sites, wherein the user can select which hyperlinks are displayed on that user's personalized version of the site and can arrange some elements of the screen display. Typically, a user desiring to create a personalized version of one of these Web portal sites must register with the site, usually providing a username and password. Thereafter, the user can “login” to his/her personalized version of the site by entering the username and password at a login prompt.
Hosting and maintaining a Web portal site can be difficult and expensive. Many companies and organizations that might otherwise desire to provide a Web portal site for use by their members, employees, or customers do not have the technical or financial resources to do so. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a service that offered these companies and organizations the use of a preexisting Web portal site, hosted and maintained by another party, that can be customized by each company or organization to meet the specific needs of its members, employees, or customers. In addition, it would be desirable if the members, employees, or customers of a given company or organization could further customize the preexisting Web portal site to create personalized versions thereof. The present invention is directed to a system and method for providing such a service.